Libya: Arab League calls for United Nations no-fly zone

The Arab League called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a
no-fly zone on Libya, increasing pressure on Europe and the US to embark on
limited military action against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Road to hell: Libyan rebels outside the eastern oil port of Ras Lanuf, which has been retaken by the Gaddafi regime. Fighters retreating from the town pleaded for western help against air strikes which they are powerless to repel Photo: GETTY

By Colin Freeman in Cairo, Nick Meo in Benghazi and Patrick Hennessy in London

6:35PM GMT 12 Mar 2011

As Colonel Gaddafi’s jets and tanks continued to gain ground against rebels in the east of the country, ministers from the 22-nation League agreed to call for action after emergency talks in Cairo. Officials said the body had already been in touch with the rebels about the situation on the ground.

Before the meeting, Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League and one of its most influential diplomats, had thrown his weight behind the air exclusion zone, saying it was the only way to protect Libyans from Gaddafi’s “disdainful” regime.

In a statement after a six-hour long meeting, he added: “The Arab League has officially requested the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone against any military action against the Libyan people.”

His comments came as the Gaddafi regime declared victory in the battle for the oil port of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya, where it had fought with artillery, tanks, ships and planes to eject rebels for most of the last week

His comments came as the Gaddafi regime declared victory in the battle for the oil port of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya, where it had fought with artillery, tanks, ships and planes to eject rebels for most of the last week.

As Colonel Gaddafi's jets and tanks continued to gain ground against rebels in the east of the country, ministers from the 22-nation Arab League agreed to call for action after emergency talks in Cairo. League officials say the body had already been in touch with the rebels about the situation on the ground.

Before the meeting, Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League and one of its most influential diplomats, had thrown his weight behind the air exclusion zone, saying it was the only way to protect Libyans from Gaddafi's "disdainful" regime.

"I do not know who will impose this zone, nor how, that remains to be seen," he said, in an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.

"I am talking about a humanitarian action. It consists, with a no-fly zone, of supporting the Libyan people in their fight for freedom against a regime that is more and more disdainful."

His comments came as the Gaddafi regime declared victory in the battle for the oil port of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya, where it had fought with artillery, tanks, ships and planes to eject rebels for most of the last week. Rebel commanders pulled their forces up to 13 miles back from the tiny town, claiming they feared that its burning refinery would explode.

But 40-year-old Wanis Muftar, a volunteer in camouflage fatigues and toting a Kalashnikov assault rifle, said: "This morning we were there, but we had to withdraw because of the bombs."

There are fears in the rebel camp that the Gaddafi forces will now push further east, perhaps mounting an attack on Brega, one of the last substantial towns on the road to Benghazi, the rebels' base.

Saif al-Islam, Kadhafi's son, said he was confident government troops would defeat rebels, adding they had already retaken control over "90 per cent of the country". He swore there would be no negotiations with the rebels, calling them terrorists and saying there would be a "war to the end."

Arab backing for an international no-fly zone is considered essential by Britain and France, which are battling to overcome fears in America and among other European Union members that its imposition would be portrayed by Gaddafi as Western military meddling in Libyan affairs.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said: "You need a legal base for any military action, and I am counting a no-fly zone as military action, and you need support within the region from the Arab world.

"Clearly if we are to have a no-fly zone we would like Arab nations to participate in it militarily."

Mr Hague also said Gaddafi was becoming a pariah among his fellow Arabs. He added: "Even if he regained control over part of the country, the Arab world want to have nothing to do with him any more."

Support for a no-fly zone among Arab nations will be a boost for Britain following last week's European Union summit, which ended without support for British and French calls for military intervention, frustrating David Cameron.

Outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo yesterday, thousands of Libyan expatriates had gathered to demand that the no-fly zone went ahead, brandishing placards saying: "Save Libya from the tyrant Gaddafi".

"We want the Arab League to show the same resolve on this situation as the rest of the world," said Aynour Soufrakis, 48, a Libyan originally from Benghazi, the eastern city that is now the stronghold of the rebel movement. "I don't they really have any choice in the matter, as if they don't, it will be embarrassing for them in front of their own peoples and everyone else. They should have made this decision much earlier than now - it was ridiculous to dither while people in Libya are dying."

As a further gesture to distance itself from Gaddafi's regime, the League yesterday refused to allow two envoys from Gaddafi's regime to attend.

Instead, it heard from representatives from the self-declared provisional government in eastern Libya, who asked them to back the no-fly zone and also give them official recognition as a legitimate authority.

Prior to the meeting, Iraq had already expressed "clear and firm" support, as had the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

But other important regional players - notably Saudi Arabia, Syria and Algeria - had been more cautious, insisting only on the need for "Arab consensus". Critics pointed out all three nations were concerned themselves about falling victim to the kinds of popular uprisings that have now swept Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya. "They are worried that next week, it will be them who are having a no-fly zone imposed," said one onlooker at the Cairo conference.

Others feared that even after a majority of the 22-member bloc voted in favour of the no-fly zone, dissenters and splits could see them fail to match words with actions.

Baroness Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, was due to arrive in Cairo later on Saturday to hold further discussions with the League. Washington fears a no-fly zone could not only prove ineffective but also pave the way to protracted military involvement on the ground, despite the US president, Barack Obama, admitting on Friday that without foreign intervention, Gaddafi might now be able to crush the rebel movement with his superior firepower.

So far only the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, has backed a bullish approach, officially recognising the rebel government last week, and also backing the principle of targeted air strikes.

Britain has backed the no-fly zone in principle but is likewise anxious about the practicalities and the need for international consensus.

In rebel-held eastern Libya, patience for diplomatic niceties is running short. At a checkpoint near the contested town of Ras Lanuf, Saluhaddin Sultan, 38, a rebel who used to work as a kitchen worker at an oil plant, gestured angrily and said: "Why aren't the Americans doing anything? They just watch and talk. Gaddafi has heavy weapons and he is killing us."

There was a personal reason for his anger. His brother-in-law and nephew, also fighters, had died a day earlier when their car was hit by one of Gaddafi's jets.

"We are fighting for our revolution, but we cannot protect ourselves from the planes," he said.

A couple of miles along the road from the checkpoint were two deep craters on the road edge, from another bombing raid which had killed a family in their car as they fled the fighting.

Jalal Elgallal, a Benghazi businessman educated in Britain who supports the revolution, added: "I lived in Britain for years, I admire Britain - as most Libyans do - and I would expect Britain to help the underdog. If we get a no-fly zone he can't bomb us, and our fighters could march on Tripoli and end this.

"We need your help to get rid of Gaddafi. Just think about what he has done to you in the past - Lockerbie, Yvonne Fletcher, terror attacks.

"This is your chance too to get rid of him. We could get rid of him quickly with some foreign help, otherwise doing this could cost tens of thousands of lives."